Young boys are being kidnapped and then strangled to death in Chicago, while the same is happening to girls in St. Louis. Is there one killer driving up and down I-55, or two separate killers?

Detective Joe Keough and his partner, Harriet Connors, recently assigned to the federal Serial Killer Task Force, are dispatched from Washington, D.C., to find out. For Keough, it has been a long time since he was last in his hometown, St. Louis.

Keough has been part of the task force for just over a year and is not happy. He is considering yet another career change. The task force may be opening a Midwest office where he would love to be transferred - or it might be disbanded. A lot will depend on what Keough and Harriet can do about these two cases of serial murders. But Keough is distracted by his ongoing battles with diabetes and recurring memories from his past.